Beauty Tip of the Week: Shiny hair

So I'm starting a new blog series called Beauty tip of the week. Every week I will share with all of you some of my all time favorite beauty tricks.

I have been kind of obsessed with having shiny hair lately so I thought would tell you guys how I have been making my hair really shiny!

Honey Rinse:

Mix 1 tsp. of honey with 3 cups of warm water. Right before you get out of the shower pour this mix over your hair. Do NOT rinse! I know what you might be thinking...my hair is going to be so sticky! It's actually not going to be sticky at all. Trust me. All this rinse will do for your hair is give you brilliant shine. It really has been working for me. My mom even asked why my hair was so shiny so I made some extra rinse for her to try and she loved it! It's so easy you to make you can just try it for yourself to see if it works on you.

How do you make your hair shiny?

Look out for next week's beauty tip of the week!

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

Frizz Free Hair!

I thought I would share my latest natural hair mask discovery. This hair mask is super easy to make since you will only need two ingredients. It will leave your hair frizz free for about a week! And no I'm not kidding, it really is a great mask.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of honey

1 cup of yogurt

Mix the two together and apply to your hair. Leave on for at least 30 minutes. Repeat weekly to maintain results.

Why it works:

Yogurt has protein which will help to stengthen and moisturize your hair taming those pesky fly-aways by smoothing your strands.

Honey is great at moisturizing and giving some extra shine to your hair!

This is one of my favorite natural hair masks and one of the ones I use most often.

What do you use in your hair to fight frizz?

P.s. Keep your heads up because ANOTHER GIVEAWAY is coming very soon!

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel!

I’ll start out by saying I’m in love with this moisturizer. If you have oily skin and you worry about making your skin greasy by using a moisturizer than it’s probably because you haven’t tried this. Oily skin needs moisture to avoid over production of even more oil and this provides me with just the right amount of moisture. It’s a non-comedogenic moisturizer so it won’t clog your pores and break you out. It is a very light formula that absorbs quite quickly and after I apply it my skin feels like satin! Seriously it’s left ridiculously soft! It provides me with the perfect base to apply my makeup. I didn’t really get amazing results from the Clinique 3 step system but at least this one product was well worth my money. I’m running out so I have to go repurchase before it’s all gone! Clinique makes two formulations, gel and lotion. If the lotion is anything like the gel then I would definitely recommend it for people with dryer skin. This is the best moisturizer I have tried to date, I’m giving this 5 stars!

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

Detox Diet for glowing skin!

Now a days we eat so many over processed food and lots of other junk that our bodies become very needy of a detox to get rid of all the waste. An unhealthy diet can really take a toll on your skin, so detoxing is a great idea if you are facing any skin problems. I found a great website with a detox diet targeted at improving your skin condition. It's a 3 day program and it involves making alot of fresh juices with tons of fruit and veggies.

This weekend I gave the detox diet a go and had great results! I feel alot more energy and I can see an improvement in my skin :)

I wanted to post all the steps I followed on here, but to avoid any copyright issues I will just give you the link to the site were I got the diet from:

http://life.gaiam.com/article/1-2-3-detox-radiance

I will however give you some basic guide lines:

1. Drink alot of water!

2. Don't worry if you feel kind of tired the first day, this is because you are getting much less calories which means much less energy.

3. Avoid too much phisical activity

4. Follow all the steps

5. Copy the text to a word document and print it out, take this with you shopping so you get everything you need, also keep it handy when you are preparing the foods

This gave me great results!

Have you ever done a detox diet?

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

photo courtesy of health.com

Proactiv refining mask review!

The proactive refining mask is a great Little product. Having used the entire proactive system twice it’s actually the only product I would recommend. This is because it’s the only product that has delivered long lasting results for me. Now I’m not saying slathering this over your face is going to cure acne forever, but it is a great product to use as a spot treatment to zap zits and keep them from coming back. I prefer to use this at night, I put a moderate amount on any spots I have and wait until morning. What this mask is going to do is completely dry out the zit. I have been lucky enough sometimes to have the spots be completely gone by the next morning! Some however require continuous use during a couple of days to totally dry up the spot. One of the things I love about this mask is the ingredients in it. Some of the most common acne fighting ingredients don’t really do much for me, one of those is benzyl peroxide which just doesn’t give me results. Sulfur and tea tree oil however are a whole other story, they work wonders to clear up my skin! The proactive refining mask includes them along with other amazing ingredients! It’s got vitamin E which is an antioxidant and will help to soothe your skin, lemon grass to condition it and omega-3 and 6 to retain moisture in the skin ( very important is you want to avoid zits!). The sulfur I mentioned before is in a concentration of 6% (this is what is actually drying the spot) and the tea tree oil is a great natural antibacterial. Though I mostly use this as a spot treatment I also sometimes use it a a full on face mask to get my oily skin controlled.

Bottom Line: If you are looking for something effective to clear up a couple of spots then you should really try this!

A post on more zit zapping ideas will be coming soon so stick around!

Have you used this mask before?

What is your favorite spot treatment?

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

Bye!

July Favorites!

My favorite products for the month of July!

Maybelline "The Turbo Volume Express" mascara:

My favorite brand of drugstore mascaras in Maybelline, and this mascara reminded me of why. My lashes don’t clump at all and look really long with this mascara. It doesn’t make them fuller but since I have naturally full lashes that doesn’t really bother me. It makes my look more intense and awake.

Lancome "Bienfait Multi-Vital Teinte" Spf 30 tinted moisturizer:

I’ve had this for a while but I whipped it out just in time for summer. I like the texture and when I wear this I feel like I have nothing on. It gives me MUCH better coverage than your average tinted moisturizer! Right after I put it on it makes my face look shiny but it’s nothing some setting powder can’t take care of. This is great for someone who want to wear something light but with a bit of coverage.

Ralph Lauren "Hot" perfume:

This perfume has been around for a couple of years but I had never tried it. I was at a perfume shop and was attracted to the bottle because of the pretty purple color. I smelled it and loved it! Right when I smell it I get a scent of coconut, which just happens to be my second favorite scent (you can probably tell by my blog name which is my first favorite J ). After a while you get kind of a mocha, musky sort of scent. I can’t describe really well but I know it smells great because every time I wear it get compliments on how good I smell!

Rose water:

I have oily skin but when I use many harsh products on my face I tends to dry in a bit. I spritz my face with rose water and problem solved! I read somewhere that rose water is great for setting your makeup so I decided to try it out. When I use it as a setting spray I find that my makeup looks dewy and fresh.

Suave Naturals "Tropical Coconut" conditioner:

By far the BEST smelling conditioner I have ever owned! I love this product for o so many reasons. First of all it’s crazy cheap yet works. The bottle is huge so it will last for a while and it has an amazing coconut scent. I actually use this as a leave-in conditioner. After I have washed my hair I get a dime sized amount of this and put it through my hair. It moisturizes it really great, makes it soft, and the scent lingers in my hair for most of the day!

Song favorite of the month:

Help by the Beatles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7JjJJZi1Q&feature=related

I listened to this song non stop in July and even used it as my ringtone.

Have you tried any of these products?

What was your favorite song last month?

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

Bye!

DIY: at home facial!

This is a little regimen I follow once a week to indulge my skin. I always to it on Sundays since I don't really do much and all the steps end up being a little time consuming so it's perfect for a lazy, stay at home day. You will definetly notice the difference once you touch your face as soon as you have finished.

1. Cleanse your face two times with a mild cleanser. The first time lather for 30 seconds to a minute and the second time only do it for about 15 seconds.

2. If you have a face steamer steam your face for about two minutes. This is great because it opens up your pores and allows all the products to penetrate your skin and work even better.

* If you don't have a face steamer you can get a big ol' pot and boil water in it. Once you see steam coming out take the pot off the stove.Place it somewhere secure.Grab a towel, put it over your head and lean over the pot. Don't put your face to close and be REALLY careful with the hot water! You can even add a bag of green tea to make the steaming even more beneficial.

3. Exfoliate. Use a scrub and massage it on your face for 30 seconds. Leave it on for an additional 30 seconds.

4. Mask #1. Apply a thin layer of a deep pore cleansing clay mask. Leave it on for as long as directed on packaging.

5. Mask #2. Apply a thin layer of a hydrating mask. Let it sit for about 20 minutes.

6. Apply a non-comogenic oil such as jojoba oil to deeply moisturize your skin.

7. Apply your regular moisturizer and massage it into your skin with a clean avocado pit. This will stimulate your skin and give you more oxygen flow.

8. Feel how smooth and soft your skin is!

This facial is great for all skin types. I have oily skin and a friend of mine has dry skin, we both did this facial and ended up with great results.

XOXO Vanilla Pop <3

Bye!